Critic Reviews

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90

GameHippo.com

Passage is an Art-Game. It is more like viewing a painting or listening to Bach than, say, mindlessly pwning zombies with a shotgun. For those who are looking for a burst of adrenaline, it is advised that you stay away from this game. For everyone else, sit down for 5 minutes and be prepared to reflect upon your own life.

To call Passage a game would do it a disservice. It’s more of a metaphor for life; a meditation on the human condition. The maze-like environment represents the paths that stretch before us. Some lead to dead ends, other to riches, and still more tease us with treasures that forever remain out of reach. We may or may not find a wife in the maze, and if we do take a partner then many of the game’s narrower paths will become inaccessible. As the game progresses we accumulate points, but, as all games end in death, it becomes clear that these points are meaningless. What does it matter how much wealth one has when one dies? It is both enlightening and depressing. Most of all, though, it is proof that interactive media is capable of delivering a profound and poetic message.